Operation Neptune (espionage)

For other operations called Neptune, see Operation Neptune (disambiguation).

Operation Neptune was a 1964 disinformation operation by the secret services of Czechoslovakia (State Security) and the Soviet Union (KGB) and involved fake Nazi-era documents that were found in submerged chests.

Operation Neptune
Czech Republic lake Černé jezero - eastern bank
Russian	Операция «Нептун»
Romanization	Operatsiya "Nyeptun"

Operation Neptune's objectives were to discredit Western politicians by revealing the names of former Nazi informants whom they were still using as spies in Eastern Europe and to place pressure on West Germany to extend the statute of limitations on the prosecution of war criminals, including extending the statute of limitations.^[1][2][3]

Story

In 1964, the Czechoslovak State Security publicly claimed to have discovered Nazi-era intelligence files hidden beneath the surface of Černé jezero, a Czech Republic lake in the Šumava, on the border with West Germany.

The four chests containing the papers were supposedly discovered during the making of a documentary in the presence of members of the Western press. In fact, State Security itself had placed them there in collaboration with the KGB.^[4][3]

The apparent discovery was a disinformation operation, the largest conducted by the State Security. The fake papers were found in sunken chests, which had been carefully doctored to appear as if they had been submerged since World War II. The chests had been brought from the Soviet Union. The agent who led the divers to make the discovery and who had originally placed them in the lake, Ladislav Bittman, later known as Lawrence Martin-Bittman, defected to the West in 1968 and published a book on the plot.^{[3][5][6][1][7]}

One scholar argues that the papers were possibly genuine although the former Czechoslovak spy Josef Frolík described them in his 1975 memoirs as forgeries.^[8][9]

Result

The operation also succeeded in worsening relations between Germany and Italy, as the names published included people who had lived in Germany and worked against Italy during the war. The operation had some temporary success.^[10][3][6]

Later history

The Czech civilian intelligence agency posted the files on Operation Neptune on its website.^[3]

See also

• Active measures

References

1. Dinah Cardin, "Nobody Did it Better", Wicked Local: North of Boston, 2 February 2007, p. 5.
2. Richard H. Shultz and Roy S. Godson, Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy, New York: Pergamon, 1984, ISBN 9780080315744, p. 171.
3. Dita Asiedu, "Details of Czechoslovakia's biggest disinformation operation published on web", Radio Prague, 8 June 2007.
4. Michael F. Scholz, "Active measures and disinformation as part of East Germany's propaganda war, 1953–1972", in: Kristie Macrakis, Thomas Wegener Friis and Helmut Müller-Enbergs, ed., East German Foreign Intelligence: Myth, Reality and Controversy, Studies in intelligence series, London/New York: Routledge, 2010, ISBN 9780415484428, pp. 113–, p. 116.
5. The International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 1 (1986) 114.
6. "The Spy Who Came Into the Classroom Teaches at Boston U.", The New York Times, 27 April 1994.
7. Ladislav Bittman, The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider's View, Washington, DC: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1985, ISBN 9780080315720, p. 8.
8. Scholz, citing Ladislav Bittman, Geheimwaffe D, Berne: SOI, 1973, ISBN 9783859130715, pp. 59–. (German translation of The Deception Game)
9. Walter Galton, "Czech spy learnt the Reds' dirty tricks, then exposed them", Review, The Frolik Defection, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 August 1975, p. 46.
10. "Case Study: West Germany: A Czech ploy that worked—but only briefly", Christian Science Monitor, 1 March 1985 (pay per view).

Further reading

• Ladislav Bittmann. The Deception Game: Czechoslovak Intelligence in Soviet Political Warfare. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Research Corporation, 1972. ISBN 9780815680789.
• United States. Congress. House. Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Subcommittee on Oversight. Soviet Covert Action (the Forgery Offensive): Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, Second Session, February 6, 19, 1980. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980. OCLC 7281428.